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Benedict XVI: Marriage is a Real Good for Society

By Gudrun Schultz

VATICAN CITY, May 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Married love is the primary model of God’s love for humanity, Pope Benedict said in an address last week, and it is the only foundation strong enough to support a society “that can be home to all human beings.”

Speaking to an international congress promoted by the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family of the Pontifical Lateran University, the Holy Father said the heart of John Paul II’s teaching on human love was that “marriage and the family are rooted in the most intimate core of truth about man and his destiny,” and “that Christ, fullness of the Father’s revelation of love, also reveals the full truth of man’s vocation of love, which can only be completely achieved in the sincere giving of self.”

Referring to his recent Encyclical “Deus Caritas Est”, Benedict said, “the close relationship between the image of God’s love and human love enables us to understand that ‘corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous marriage. Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love becomes the icon of the relation ship between God and His people and vice versa. God’s way of loving becomes the measure of human love.’”
 
The Pope said the Institute’s task is “ to illuminate the truth of love as a road to completeness in all forms of human existence. …Authentic love becomes a light guiding all life to its fulfillment, creating a society in which mankind can live. The communion of life and love that is marriage is thus…a real good for society.”

The Holy Father warned against confusing marriage with “other unions,” saying,

“Avoiding confusion with other kinds of union based on a weak form of love is, today, particularly urgent. Only the rock of complete and irrevocable love between man and woman is capable of acting as a foundation for a society that can be home to all human beings.”

His statement drew a response from homosexual activists in the newly elected Italian government, who accused him of political meddling. Prime Minister Romano Prodi opposes gay marriage, but supports moderate rights for same-sex couples. At least two members of his coalition are openly gay and actively promote homosexuality.

(With files from the Vatican Information Office.)

The full address in Italian:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/may/documents/hf_be...

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